


Tell Her

by MaxWrite



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-04-04
Updated: 2006-04-04
Packaged: 2017-10-18 14:41:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/189940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaxWrite/pseuds/MaxWrite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the battle in the Department of Mysteries, there was something very important Neville forgot to do.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tell Her

“Hey, Neville.”

“Hey, Nev, how was your summer?”

Neville looked distractedly up at Dean and Seamus. “Oh, er, fine, thanks.” Frowning and scratching his head, he walked away. Exchanging a glance, his dormitory mates followed him up the marble staircase.

“What’s up, Nev?” asked Seamus.

“I’ve forgotten something,” Neville answered simply.

“Well,” said Dean, “no offence, mate, but shouldn’t you be used to that by now?”

Neville reached into his robes and pulled out his Remembrall. It was glowing deepest scarlet.

“That’s pretty red,” said Dean.

“It’s always red,” said Seamus.

“Yeah, but it’s been red all summer,” said Neville. “Usually, I eventually stumble upon whatever it was I’d forgotten to remember, but not this time.” He scratched his head again, his eyebrows knitting together. “This must be really important, too, ‘cause it’s never been this dark before.”

“Drop something during your big battle in the Department of Mysteries last year?” asked Dean, elbowing him playfully.

“I don’t think so.”

Just then, the staircase shifted, abruptly beginning a leftward journey, breaking away from its upper half only two steps from where Neville stood.

“Now what?” mumbled Seamus. “Bloody stairs.”

“Humph,” grunted Neville, looking up from the little ball. He looked in the direction they were headed. They were approaching the upper half of another staircase, its lower half having gone off somewhere. And standing a few steps from a treacherous drop was Luna Lovegood. Neville blinked at her.

“Loony was there with you at the Ministry, wasn’t she, Nev?” asked Dean.

“Yuh-huh,” nodded Neville. He squinted at her as though unsure what to make of her. Luna didn’t bat an eyelash; she seemed to be accustomed to being stared at in this manner. She gave Neville a lopsided grin. Neville glanced down at her feet. She was wearing green trainers with purple tights. He smiled to himself.

The boys’ staircase neared Luna’s, began to slide slowly into place with a low rumble that resonated throughout the Entrance Hall, down to the dungeons, and up toward the towers. Soon they were all standing close enough that nobody had to shout to be heard.

“Hey,” said Neville.

“Hello,” said Luna.

“Er, how was your summer?”

“Summer was lovely. I didn’t enjoy it at all. You?”

“Well, I, erm … What?”

“The weather was very nice, quite summery, indeed. But a friend of mine moved far away and our cat died. So, I didn’t enjoy the summer much.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

She gave him a bland little smile. “You’re sweet.” And at that, she began rummaging around in a very large striped cloth handbag she had slung over her arm. Dean and Seamus exchanged another glance.

“I think she likes you, Nev,” Seamus snickered in his ear.

“And any girl who can make you look normal is a rare and special creature,” whispered Dean. “I’d snap this one up before Colin Creevey gets to her first.”

Neville barely acknowledged them. He was too busy watching Luna, who was now armpit-deep in her handbag. For a moment, Neville wondered why she was suddenly so far to the right of them, but then he realised the staircase hadn’t stopped. It was still moving on past.

Without stopping to think, Neville dove, took a step up and then launched himself as high up onto Luna’s staircase as he could. The banister ends passed each other just as his robes were fluttering between them. The fabric got caught as the ends came together, and Neville was yanked back. He yelped, stumbled, slipped on the smooth marble and fell, scraping his forearm on the cracked edge of a step as he grabbed onto one of the banister’s bars just in time. All around him, he could hear students gasping, but no time to worry about who was watching. The next staircase half was approaching fast. Luna was still rummaging round in her bag.

He swung himself from side to side, building up momentum, then attempted to hook a leg up and over the steps. He managed to get his foot up onto it, but it slipped right off again. He checked the moving staircase’s location; he didn’t have much time. He could swing to the side to avoid it, but then he’d be trapped outside the staircase, hanging in space above an impossibly long drop. He’d have to either scramble up and over – and he had very little faith in his own coordination – or wait for a teacher, or a competent enough student, to levitate him back up to safety. Somehow, that seemed even more embarrassing than simply dangling there, so he made another attempt at hoisting himself up.

_“Levicorpus!”_ someone above him declared, sounding almost bored. He felt a sharp jerk at his ankles, and he was yanked upwards so fast, his hands were torn from the banister. He found himself hanging in mid-air, face-to-face with Luna, except she was upside down … No. _He_ was upside down.

“Hello,” she said again, placing her wand back behind her ear. “Now, where was I?” And she set about rummaging through her bag again. A light smattering of giggles and chatter sounded all around them. Neville cleared his throat purposefully, hoping Luna would remember that he didn’t normally go about upside down and five feet off the ground like this.

He heard something clatter to the marble. He looked down, or what felt like up to him; his Remembrall was bouncing merrily away, down the once again complete staircase, glowing crimson as ever. Then it stopped suddenly, and the incantation _“Impedimenta!”_ echoed in his mind. He frowned, looked back at Luna. She’d grabbed her wand again, was pointing it down the staircase. Neville’s Remembrall had frozen in mid bounce.

The wand turned on Neville once more, she uttered the word _“Liberacorpus!”_ and he fell painfully to the staircase. He accepted the hand she extended to him and, with surprising strength, she helped him to his feet. Once again, the wand slid back behind her ear, poking jauntily through her curtain of straight, blond hair. And out of her bag came her other hand, clutching nothing more than an ordinary Red Delicious apple. She grinned.

“Ah,” she said, polishing it on her robes. “There you are.” She looked up at Neville. “You all right?”

“Er, yeah. Thanks.”

She smiled and blinked her large pale eyes at him, then took a bite of her apple. Glancing down the staircase, she said “You might want to go fetch that before someone else gets it.”

“What? Oh, yeah, thanks for that, too. Erm … Luna?”

She looked back up at him.

“You know, you were pretty amazing last year. At the Ministry, I mean.”

“I didn’t do much. You did more fighting than I did.”

“You were just as helpful as anyone else. I’m glad you were there.”

She swallowed and smiled again, this time with a hint of sheepish pride. “You really are sweet. You know, I don’t think you’re nearly as nerdy as people say you are.”

He couldn’t help but laugh at that, couldn’t find it in himself to be offended. He knew inherently what she meant. And before he knew it, he was leaning forward and kissing her cheek. When he pulled back, she was regarding him with what he guessed was surprise, though her eyes were as dreamy and far away as ever. He gulped.

“Maybe we can, er …” he mumbled. “I mean, if you wanted to, you know, we could maybe study together or something …”

She lifted herself up onto the balls of her feet and laid a gentle kiss on his stuttering mouth. He shut right up and let her kiss him, barely conscious of the gawking and gasping happening around them, and having no idea that only a few feet away, his Remembrall was fading back to white.


End file.
